THE FALL OF MAN Genesis 3
To begin with: The Bible does not reveal to us the origin of evil. We meet evil for the first time as an adversary of God that that comes to paradise as a serpent. At that time a serpent did not look like a disgusting reptile but a noble creature. Read verses 2:16-17. God gave His word to the man who communicated it to the woman - and this word was now attacked by the serpent.
Verses 1-3
• Why doesn’t the Bible tell us more about the origin of evil?
• What is the best explanation for the origin of evil according to verse one? a) God and the Devil have always existed. b) God is the origin of the evil. c) Devil is an angel created by God, but has fallen.
• What are the implications if we think that the origin of evil is God?
• Why didn’t the serpent talk to Adam but to Eve?
• Why did Eve think that they were not even allowed to touch the forbidden fruit (compare verse 3 to 2:17)?
• How did the serpent try to make Eve doubt God’s word and His love?
• What did the serpent lie about and what was true in his words (compare verses 2:16-17)?
• How can one notice today that many people act as if they would like to be like God?
Verse 6
• What great Eve now noticed in the forbidden fruit? What attracted her?
• What makes sin look good, beautiful and attractive, instead of looking disgusting?
• Compare your own battle against sin, the Devil and your own sinful nature to Eve’s battle against the serpent. Who has a harder situation; which battle is more difficult?
• When did Adam come or was he present all the time?
• What does it tell us about Adam that he did not stop the conversation between Eve and the serpent?
• Why did Eve want Adam to fall into sin as well?
• Why did Adam also eat the forbidden fruit that he got from Eve?
• What do you think the fruit tasted like in Adam’s and Eve’s mouth?
• How are knowledge and experiences still tempting people – including damaging knowledge and experiences destroying life (5-6)?
• What would you deem too high a price for a “top experience”?
Verses 7-8
• God had said that the sinner would “surely die” (2:17). What happened? (How is death now present in people and the whole universe?)
• What does it mean that Adam’s and his wife’s eyes were opened? What did they see that they had not seen before?
• What was now wrong with being naked? What happened to its former loveliness? (verses 7 and 10, compare to 2:25)
• What does it show that the man and woman were now hiding from God? (What did they believe about God while hiding?)
• In what sense had Adam’s and Eve’s knowledge increased? (What did they know about evil?)
Verses 9-13
• Why did God correct the man at first even though the woman had fallen at first?
• What do you think about the answers Adam and Eve gave to their Creator (12-13)? (What did Adam mean by his words? How might Eve have felt when she heard them?)
• What happened to the first married couple’s love story?
Verses 14-15
• What were the consequences of the fall to the serpent?
• Verse 15 is said to be the first gospel. What does it say about the coming Savior?
• How did the promise in verse 15 affect Adam and Eve’s relationship with God?
Verses 16-20
• What would the woman’s relationship with the man and a child be like if the fall of man had not happened?
• What was the man’s primary sin and how can it be seen nowadays (17a)?
• What influence did the fall have on creation? (What was work like before and after the fall?)
• Why did the man want to call his wife Eve, “the mother of everything living”, even though death came to the world through her?
Verses 21-24. Read the verses and “finally” below.
Finally: God was the first to shed blood on earth when He clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skin. A substitute “surely died” such that the first people could wear “a garment of righteousness”. This deed of God is the pre-image of all sacrifices ever after – including Jesus’ sacrifice.
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